The invention pertains to the field of vehicle simulators, and, more particularly, to the field of vehicle simulators having realistic force feedback to the control devices manipulated by the driver/pilot to simulate the actual forces which would be felt in a real vehicle under similar circumstances.
Vehicle simulators have been used extensively by the armed services and NASA for pilot training and some simulators have been used for driver training. Some of these simulators have realistic feedback forces for the control devices manipulated by the trainee, but as far as the applicants are aware, no simulator has used electrical motors to simulate forces that the trainee would feel through the simulated vehicle's controls.
In the video game industry, some video games have used electric motors to shake the control devices for a simulated vehicle, but as far as the applicants are aware, no video game has simulated the actual forces a driver would feel through, for example, the steering wheel of a car. Since the hydraulic apparatus of expensive military simulators is both too expensive and too complicated and unreliable for video games, there has arisen a need for an apparatus and method of realistically simulating in a video game or simulator environment actual forces the operator of a vehicle would feel in operating an actual vehicle. This apparatus and method must be simple, reliable, all electric and inexpensive.